Sista Stroke spoke for me when she wrote the following words in the October ish of 5 Mag: “If you’ve been keeping up with Matthew Kyle’s groove, then you’ll know where I’m coming from when I say he’s making Nu Disco his bitch.” Matthew’s downtempo disco machine is firing on all cylinders, with his remix of JKriv (of Tortured Soul fame) and Adeline Michele’s “Another Night” and releases on one of the most interesting new labels to come around in awhile, his own In The Woods.
“When I started the label I originally only planned on releasing my own material, but I was very fortunate to receive a lot of stellar demos,” he says. Joseph Terruel, whose The Hidden Cuts was In the Woods’ second release, “is an amazing producer from Mexico and his productions never cease to impress me. The next artist I signed was Heion, an equally fantastic producer from Romania. His debut EP [came] out November 7th and its something I’m extremely proud to have been able to release.
“Starting my label has been an organic process, and what feels like the next logical step in my musical evolution. I’ve been very lucky to be able to release on a lot of different labels, both digital and analog. I’ve had great working relationships with a lot of the labels and a few that I wouldn’t work with again. But unfortunately that is just the nature of the music business and it was a lesson I had to learn.
“For me, music and DJing have always been a hobby; a hobby 12 years in the making. I finally got to a point where I had an abundance of material and I was presented with the opportunity to release my own music. And let’s be honest, its more satisfying to do it yourself and to have complete creative control. Furthermore I’m a graphic designer by day so its also an opportunity to be creative and do the kind of art I want to do on each release. The branding of “In The Woods” was definitely a labor of love and something I spent about 2 months on creating and finalizing each illustration.”
Barely a year in the business of making music, Matthew’s been pegged as a leader of a suddenly hot movement sometimes called “Slo Mo” or “Slow Disco”. “To me its downtempo. It’s basically a slowed down House beat, a 4×4 drum loop anywhere from 90-105 bpm. As much as I’d like to think this style of music is a new movement, it’s really nothing new for me.
“I am happy its becoming more and more popular, but with that popularity there is a risk of it becoming a “fad” or a trend. For the most part I think there is this underground collective of artists worldwide (mainly through Soundcloud) who produce this specific style. However I’m starting to notice more popular producers experiment in the lower bpm’s, but it almost feels like a throw-away track for the b-side.
“Personally I think it takes great skill to produce a tune at 100 bpm that still has enough groove to move a dancefloor. Anybody can make a Deep House track at 120 bpm. I don’t say that to offend anyone as I have a ton of respect for a lot of Deep House producers, I just think it takes a certain musical philosophy to craft a gorgeous and melodic downtempo beat.” • • •
